Hands-on with 'Dead Rising 2'

Haven't had your fill of zombies yet? Between Left 4 Dead 2, Plants vs. Zombies and Resident Evil 5 -- not to mention feature films like Zombieland -- there is always room for more.

If you agree, then you'll be happy to know Capcom's Dead Rising 2 is on track for an August 31 launch (for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PCs), and after spending some hands-on time with the zombie-slashing sequel last week, we doubt players will be disappointed.

The follow-up to 2006's Dead Rising, about a photojournalist holed up in a shopping mall surrounded by the flesh-eating undead, now takes place in the Las Vegas-esque Fortune City and stars Chuck Greene, an ex-motocross star who must fend for his life.

"The game is just huge," says Josh Bridge, senior producer at Vancouver's Blue Castle Games, whose team of 100+ developers are working with Capcom Japan's Keiji Inafune on what will likely be the publisher's biggest title of 2010.

"Dead Rising 2 is much bigger than the last game and it's a lot more dense, too, so you can't go a couple of feet without something to interact with, be it a zombie, weapon, clothing, minigames or something else in the environment," Bridge says.

A new two-part demo was shown at Capcom's recent press event, a casino and shopping area, and finished with a boss battle against vicious female zombie twins armed with katanas. Bridge says these levels take place around the middle of the story campaign and make up less than 20 percent of the entire game.

Unveiled for the first time, Dead Rising 2's two biggest features are weapon combos and co-op play, "but we have other tricks up our sleeve we're not ready to share just yet," assures Bridge, with a sly smile.

With weapon combos, this over-the-top third-person action game lets you find items littered around the world and bring them to a work bench to combine together. As if it wasn't fun enough to beat up zombies with unconventional weapons like a giant foam finger, construction helmet, wheelchair or stuffed animal, you can fuse two items together to create even more bizarre weapons. How about a vacuum cleaner and saw blades that suck zombies in and chops them to pieces, or an animatronic bear and submachine gun to create a robotic sentry that shoots down approaching zombies. While less creative, another combo might be a baseball bat with nails to create a deadly melee weapon for plenty of carnage.

Many of the combos award players with a secondary -- and more gruesome -- attack by holding down the action button. For example, a regular attack with the modified baseball bat simply swings it at enemies, while the secondary attack digs the nails deep into a zombie's forehead and Chuck must put his foot on its chest as leverage to pull out the bat.

With hundreds of items to find and use, half the fun of the game will likely be testing out the various combinations, seeing how many prestige points (PP) players can amass, and earn "combo cards" that give twice the PP for finding and using the items illustrated on the game's pause screen.

Bridge says gamers will also discover their own tactics. The developer's favorite move, for example, is luring zombies to a hovering mini helicopter and placing tiki torches underneath them to ignite them all on fire. "We're hoping to see YouTube videos after the game launches with people saying 'look what I did with this combination or this tactic," says Bridge.

As with the first Dead Rising, gamers can have drinks to increase health, level up over time and experience, and attempt to solve the game's mystery and get out alive within 72 hours. There are missions to solve, or players can wander around, with one eye on the clock, and explore the sandbox environment to see what you can find. Back again are more clothing options, too, for those who'd prefer to, say, trade Chuck's tough motorcycle jacket for jean shorts, a halter top and high heels. There's also sunglasses, kids' pajamas, Elvis outfits and the ability to change hair color.

"From James Bond-like outfits to fishnet stockings, we hope players will have fun visiting the different stores and changing their appearance," says Bridge.

The second biggest announcement was co-op. Introduced by Inafune, head of research and development at Capcom, two gamers can play the entire single-player story together cooperatively, via online (not local, split-screen).

Speaking of the story, we were treated to a short trailer that hinted at the plot (in one scene you see Chuck protecting his young daughter), but Inafune and the on-hand developers at Blue Castle Games refused to divulge story elements just yet.

To play co-op, gamers will go to the co-op menu and see who is online or invite a buddy to play. One player hosts the game and the other is the guest. It's possible to make combo weapons together, fight against zombies at the same time and even strategize. In one demo at the press event, we saw one Chuck provide cover for the other while the first played a giant video poker casino game to raise money.

"There are loads of zombie games, loads of shooters and loads of sandbox games, but not many make you laugh like Dead Rising 2," says Inafune through his translator. "It's truly unique to do action and comedy all in one, so it's the kind of game you want to share with a friend. Co-op was a natural [fit]."

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About Mike Snider

Mike Snider began covering the video game industry during the Super Nintendo-Sega Genesis clash in 1992. An original pinball wizard, he eventually was seduced by Robotron: 2084 and Tempest. These days he is a fan of action/shooters and lives out his Keith Moon fantasies playing a mean drum kit on music games. More about Mike.

About Brett Molina

Brett Molina has been writing about video games for USA TODAY since 2005. He is well-versed in Madden NFL, the fighting genre and first-person shooters. The first video game he played was Asteroids at a local arcade. He has been hooked ever since. More about Brett.